The Spark That May Torch Valuations

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A loser: Twitter. The company announced revenue growth of 61% year on year — pretty impressive, but that wasn’t the story. The story was growth – or to be precise, the lack of it. Monthly active users rose from 302 million to 304 million quarter-on-quarter. Twitter is in big trouble. Our prediction? Next quarter we’re going to see an actual decline in users. This could be the spark that torches valuations in the social media market and could even indicate a broader sell-off.

A potential loser: Tory Burch, which won best mobile app in Fashion in our 2014 Best of Mobile study. We think the brand’s venture into athleisure is too little, too late and its distribution strategy of mostly e-commerce is a poor choice. The brand should be leveraging its 150-store footprint. This feels to us a lot like Kate Spade Saturday – a cute idea that will get a lot of media attention and 24 months later be shut down.

The third and most surprising loser: New York City. By 2030, New York will no longer be one of the world’s top 10 most populated cities. Mexico City will be the only one on the list not in Asia or Africa as European cities continue to decline from 1950s population highs.

Speaking of cities, what’s the most digitally savvy city in the world? We would have guessed Seoul – and we would have been wrong. The correct answer? Barcelona, which invested in infrastructure such as sensors measuring how full garbage containers are so trucks can empty only when filled. The city also has lamp posts that monitor crowds, noise, weather and traffic and serve as WiFi hotspots.

Is Lululemon a winner or a loser? Next week the sportswear maker is launching a beer called Curiosity Lager. This might seem like a losing move for a brand that emphasizes healthy lifestyle, but here’s why it might work: craft breweries and Lululemon both punch above their weight class when it comes to digital. Craft beers boasted above-average Digital IQs in our recent Beer Index with stronger sites and larger, more engaged communities than big beer brands. Lululemon also outperforms its larger competitors with a sleek, easy-to-use site and mobile app that puts UGC photos in all product profiles.